At a Crossroads
by Nils Jansen
Summary: Psychology professor William Van de Kamp unwittingly becomes involved in an X-File in a small town in Texas, working with an FBI agent who acts very protectively towards him. Connections with the FanFiction story "Das Geheimnis der Liebe."
1. Arrangements

**Disclaimer:** I, of course, do not own _The X-Files_, the characters, or whatever other legal rigmarole would be needed here.

**Main Spoilers/Continuity:** Tooms, Shapes, Tithonus, X-Cops, William

**Dell Tower  
Austin, TX  
22 May 2031, 9:57 P.M.**

Grabbing the slim remote control from the small black coffee table at her boyfriend's apartment, Maddie Madison flopped her thin frame on the sofa. With the popularity of her surname as a first name around the time she was born, along with her parents' misguided ideas about cuteness, the best Maddie could do was go by the diminutive of her first name,.

As her long blond hair settled on and over her shoulders, Maddie pressed a square with an arrow in the remote. The screen embedded in the opposite wall segued from the final scene of the potboiler she was watching to the local news teaser. Staring at the door of the second bedroom that functioned as a study, Maddie thought to herself, _He's been in that room with that stupid occult book all night. He calls it research. Some would call it an obsession. _Maddie smiled._ Maybe I'll say that to him sometime._

The head and well-dressed shoulders of anchor Reid Sumner appeared on the screen to summarize the main stories of the evening. "Good evening. Tonight, recent strange stories out of Fredericksburg may be connected to mysterious injuries sustained by an area man last night. Authorities remain baffled. Also, Austin city officials discuss implementation of a 20 year plan to accommodate the city's one-million plus..."

A tall man with reddish-brown hair and blue eyes emerged from the study. "Someone got _injured_?" he asked, walking to the sofa. "It's amazing how people take this stuff seriously." He settled on the sofa next to Maddie.

"I guess that's the only thing that will bring you out, William Van De Kamp. Something weird. Which, I might add, you take pretty seriously yourself."

Sumner's visage disappeared from the screen to make way for a series of brief commercials.

"Purely from a psychological perspective, Maddie," William replied. "It's what I'm studying."

"I keep telling you, no one cares about those old stories anymore. We already know there's aliens out there."

William stood up from the sofa, starting to pace the living room. "But no one has proven the existence of cryptozoological creatures, like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster. Poltergeists. All the rest. But the general public remains interested. People keep reporting things that 'bump in the night,' as they have done since humans started telling stories. Somebody's got to study why."

"And you've anointed yourself the man to do it."

"Here's one theory I've developed. Children have grown up with knowledge about the existence of extraterrestrial life. But for others, mainly those older than us, there's a past period perceived innocence. They could let their imaginations run free, speculating on what would happen when we finally had incontrovertible evidence of the existence of extraterrestrials. Maybe what's been happening in Fredericksburg is a part of that. People think they're seeing a creature, or creatures, whose existence they can't explain...and, deep inside, they probably hope that it remains unexplained." He paused. "It sounds like someone went too far, though."

After staring at William for a few seconds, Maddie said, "You know, William, there's so much you could do that intelligence of yours. I know UT's Psychology department actively recruited you, but you should study something more serious instead of wasting your talent on stuff like this. It's a good thing the Van De Kamps have a trust fund set up for you... in case tenure doesn't pan out."

Maddie had used the "Van De Kamp trust fund" line so many times during their year together that William ignored it. "I've got six years to obtain that hidebound goal. Just be glad I'm not one of those guys who wanders around with equipment that supposedly picks up electrical anomalies and other things that can easily be explained by elementary physics. I just want to study why they believe what they do."

"Maybe you could use what you find out to cure them of their delusions."

"Even though I don't believe in those phenomena myself, I think it's harsh to dismiss what they believe as purely delusional. I just want to understand."

Maddie looked at him skeptically. "No you don't."

"What makes you say that?"

"I think you just want to believe."

**11:22 P.M.**

"So, are you going to or not?" Maddie asked William with a hint of exhaustion.

His own patience with Maddie having dwindled, William replied, "I already made my decision, but you keep guilt-tripping me into staying here."

"William, someone got seriously hurt in Fredericksburg because some people thought they saw something."

"Maddie. Even with the pseudo-hippies wandering around, people get killed here, too. Besides, I study why people believe in unexplained phenomena, and the police there might find my insights useful."

Her eyes half-closed, Maddie lifted herself abruptly from the sofa and looked down at William. "Fine. If you want to go, then go. I just find it all ridiculous, not to mention highly dangerous." As she wandered to the bedroom, William got up and went into the study.

With the wall-mounted computer screen providing the study's sole illumination, William sat in the wheeled office chair. In a somewhat louder, artificially crisp conversational voice, he said, "Fredericksburg Police Department." Its site appeared on the monitor. "Contact," he added, looking over the site.

Through the slim speakers stationed around the room, William heard a response within a few seconds. "Fredericksburg Police Department."

"Yes, my name is William Van De Kamp. I'm a psychology professor at UT Austin, specializing in folklore."

"Yes?"

"I heard about what happened there on the news tonight. Considering the nature of the case you're investigating, I might be able to offer some insights."

"You'll have to speak with Chief Zamora about that."

"Can you get me in touch with him?"

"I can try, but I can't guarantee a response. I'll transfer you to his phone."

After several moments of silence, William heard someone else answer. "Chief Zamora speaking."

"Good evening, Cheif Zamora. I'm Dr. William Van De Kamp. I'm on UT Austin's psychology faculty, and I'd like to assist you with the investigation."

"How'd you be able to do that?"

"I study unexplained phenomena, and why people believe in it."

Zamora exhaled. "I'm not sure you can help us here, Dr. Van De Kamp. The victim got mutilated by some animal, though I'm not sure what the hell did it."

"Are you sure it was an animal? I'm thinking with the alleged sightings of some cryptozoological creature over the past month, someone might have wanted to make it seem like something was out there."

"An interesting theory, Dr. Van De Kamp, but the wounds definitely couldn't have been made by a person." Zamora paused. "Or, for that matter, any animal I know."

"So all possibilities are open?"

"I guess so."

"I would also like to interview others who claim to have seen the creature. Maybe that will point us to a suspect."

Somewhat begrudgingly, Zamora said, "Look, Dr. Van De Kamp, I don't think you'll find anything out here useful. However, if you really feel that you can be of service, you can come out here. I'd like to ask you a small favor, though."

"Anything you ask."

"The F.B.I. is sending a special agent to investigate the case. She's arriving at Bergstrom, probably on a red-eye flight out of Washington D.C. I'm sure she'd appreciate a lift, along with whatever insights you can offer."

"The Federal Bureau of Investigation?" William asked with some surprise. "An animal mutilation doesn't sound like their area of expertise."

"I'll just say that the nature of the case demands it."

"Which means that someone, rather than something, was the culprit."

"Not necessarily. At any rate, I need to get back to the case. I also need to know if you still plan on coming out here."

"Definitely. I hope my insights will help you solve the case."

"Good. I'll contact the agent so she knows you're picking her up. I'm not aware of flight details, but I can give you her name."

William grabbed a quarter-sheet of paper and a mechanical pencil. "All right. What is it?"

"Denise Kelley. You can probably just make one of those big signs with her last name and hold it up for her."

"Okay. I'll wear my chauffeur's outfit, too."

Zamora let out a slight laugh. "I'll get a hold of Agent Kelley and find out about her flight. I'll also tell her you're picking her up."

"Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow." Turning around in his chair, William was somewhat startled by a tall and slim figure in the light of the doorway. Wearing a bright polyester red dress, she leaned to one side of the doorframe, smiling at him with kohl-rounded green eyes, bright-red lips, and fanged teeth as she cradled a glass of red wine.

"I vant your blood," she purred.

"Maddie? What's with the outfit? Halloween is over five months away."

Pulling out the fangs and sashaying into the study, she replied, "I had something in mind we could do year-round." Settling in William's lap and draping her arms around his neck, she looked into his blue eyes. "Besides, I thought you'd like this, being into the paranormal and all." Maddie placed her lips on William's neck, slightly moving them to simulate sucking.

Feeling Maddie's moist mouth grazing slowly on his neck, William said, "Well, yes, but I'd rather have you."

Lifting her lips from William's neck, she pulled her head back and smiled. "Really? Don't you want a vampire seducing you?"

"No. Not really, anyway. That would hurt. Besides, that kohl makes you look like a corpse."

"Do you want it off?"

William paused. "No, I guess not. This is all pretend, anyway."

Maddie stood up, continuing to smile at William. "I can take something else off. Not pretend."

"What's that?" William asked, feigining innocence.

Moving her hands to shoulders, Maddie lifted the straps of the red dress with her thumbs. Pulling the straps down to the sides of her arms, she instantly transformed the dress into a crumpled red pile around her bare feet.


	2. Meeting

**Austin-Bergstrom International Airport  
23 May, 10:15 A.M.**

William Van De Kamp had gotten a relatively decent night's sleep, especially after the rather enjoyable vampire attack instigated by Maddie. Weather conditions in Washington had also delayed Agent Kelley's flight a few hours, pushing her arrival to a more reasonable time. Wearing a well-ventilated tan suit, white shirt, and a blue patterned tie, William stood at the baggage claim for the arriving flight from Washington. He had been holding a cardboard sign in front of his chest with "KELLEY" written on it for several minutes.

From a few hundred feet away, he saw a short woman with shoulder-length blonde hair looking around. She wore a navy blue suit jacket and skirt, as well as a light blue blouse. Turning William's direction, the woman stopped and seemed to stare for several seconds. Assuming the woman to be Agent Kelley herself, William thought to himself, _Yes. I'm Dr. William Van De Kamp. Just come here so we can get started on this._

William assumed federal agents to be confident. From his observations of the woman looking around, Agent Kelley seemed no exception. Yet, as she began walking towards him, her pace seemed hesitant.

_This does not bode well,_ William thought.

As the woman got closer, William could see her bright blue eyes, also red and puffy. Nevertheless, her movements once again became more self-assured as before, prompting William to set down his sign.

When she finally got within ten feet of William, the woman stopped, cleared her throat, and held out her hand. "Dr. William Van De Kamp?" she asked confidently, but with some tentativeness

"Yes. Agent Kelley, I presume? Or is it Doctor Kelley?" he asked, taking the woman's hand and studying her expression. Her full lips remained clamped shut, except for speaking, and her eyes conveyed a sense of purposefulness. She seemed all business, and yet William sensed some profound turmoil swirling behind them

"Glad to see you."

"I'm sure, especially after the flight delay." William tried letting go of Kelley's hand, but her grip on his remained tight. "Are you all right? Your eyes…"

Finally letting go of William's hand, Kelley said, "Oh. Yes. It's… it's just allergies. Thanks for the ride, too." She reached in her purse and pulled out a tissue, dabbing it around her eyes and nose.

"Do you want to stop at the pharmacy? I can get you some allergy pills, if you don't have any."

"I'm fine."

William shrugged. "Okay." Clasping his hands, William turned to the empty baggage carousel. "Now to wait for your luggage. What all did you bring?"

Walking to the carousel, Kelley replied, "Just a garment bag and a regular suitcase. I have to dress well for examining the victim."

Following her, William asked, "You use that line every time you go on one of these cases, Agent Kelley?"

"Not always. Just something to relieve the tension."

"You don't have to tell me."

"That's right," Kelley said. Smiling, she added, "You're a psychologist. You'd know that."

"That's why I asked to assist the police in Fredericksburg with this case. I'm hoping that my expertise in the paranormal can help with finding the culprit." He hesitated. "Not that I believe in that sort of thing, of course. I think the cause is more mundane."

"And why's that, Dr. Van De Kamp?"

While mentally noting the almost enthusiastic way she said his name, William replied "I think someone's trying to scare people, so they stage what looks like an attack by the creature. Whatever it's supposed to be."

"That's what I'm here to determine as well." With a flashing of a strobe light, everyone who had gathered around the conveyer inched closer as it began moving. "In the meantime, please help me find my suitcase."

"I'm already on it," William said.

Kelley couldn't resist a smile. "Well, at least you have some manners."

"_Manners?_ What's that have to do with this case?"

"Oh... nothing. It's just always good to be with someone who knows how to act properly."

"Well, we should at our age, anyway."

Kelley nodded, hesitantly replying, "Yes. Of course."

**10:35 A.M.**

As Agent Kelley and William approached his car, William said, "Guess which car is mine."

Looking at the various vehicles lined up on either side of them, Agent Kelley asked, "How am I supposed to know which one is yours?"

William smiled. "You're the F.B.I. agent. You figure it out."

Playing along, Kelley's eyes scanned the bumpers until she found one with a sticker shaped like a heart, the letters "JUNG" in the middle. Pointing to it, she asked, "That wouldn't be your car, would it?"

"I knew you'd figure it out. It's supposed to read 'Jung at heart.'"

Kelley smiled. "My former partner would have appreciated that."

William touched the back of the car with his right hand, prompting the trunk to open. Lifting Kelley's suitcase into the trunk, he asked, "Someone else in the FBI?"

"Yes. He took early retirement last year, but he works in an advisory capacity now due to his expertise. I guess you could say he was my mentor. He has a background in psychology, too, actually."

After placing Kelley's garment bag on top of the suitcase, William closed the trunk and walked to the driver's side of his car. "Well, maybe we can call him in if we get stumped." Tapping the driver's side door twice, the two front doors of his car opened.

"I'm sure he'd be happy to be here." They settled into their seats, the passenger side adjusting itself automatically to accommodate Kelley.

After William touched a flat circle with a red key in the middle, the doors shut and the car's engine silently started. Shifting the car into reverse and looking back, he asked, "So, how about some tunes?"

"Sure."

After braking and setting the shift stick to 'D,' William turned his head forward and pushed a dark brown rectangle with an illuminated red quarter note. "The Doors," he enunciated. Within seconds, "Break on Through" emanated from the front and back speakers of William's car.

As William started moving his head and shoulders back and forth rhythmically, Kelley asked, "You like The Doors, then?"

"Yeah. Pity they haven't put that cross-genre recommendation feature in cars, but I guess it'd be too dangerous to fiddle with the settings. I will say, I get some pretty interesting connections from the one I use at home and work. I also got turned on to opera while studying abroad in Vienna."

"Vienna? That's impressive."

"Yeah. Home of the Frood Dude, himself. I don't buy into his stuff, of course, but it's funny. Like Nabokov said, applying Greek myths to one's…" William stopped, not wanting to potentially offend his passenger. "Anyway, someone I dated there dragged me to see Richard Strauss' _Salome_. You heard of it?"

"Oh!" Kelley said. "Yes. Once, someone played a videotape of it for me."

"The performance was just impressive. I thought the roof would tear off the _Musikverein_ a few times. Also the first time a woman ever conducted the Vienna Philharmonic. And someone from the U.S., yet. But I think she showed them who was boss. For all I know, they might have even ended up playing an orchestral version of 'American Woman' in her honor."

Kelley turned and smiled at him.

"Anyway," William continued, "what do you listen to?"

"Not much, really. If I play anything, it's usually just as background."

"What I find interesting is, taking The Doors' first album as a whole, it seems an appropriate prelude for our investigation. It's very primordial, like people claiming to see strange creatures. It's as old as humanity itself."

"Except someone was probably harmed to lend veracity to those sightings, at least according to your theory." Kelley turned to William. "But what if the culprit actually was an animal?"

The sanguine manner of Kelley's statement and question prompted William to stop moving. "Then why are the police treating this as an assault? And why did they call you in? There are aspects of this case that don't make any sense."

"That's precisely why I'm here." Kelley inhaled and sighed. "I have special expertise they might find valuable in determining what actually attacked the victim."

"You mean 'who.' Right?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"So, what do you mean?"

"I suspect a humanlike creature."

"That's a safe assumption. Probably _very_ humanlike. Like maybe a human?"

Kelley stared blankly at William. "No."

"So, you're actually suggesting that some creature like Bigfoot might be behind it? Even if they were real, most alleged sightings have occurred in the eastern part of Texas. Usually around the Piney Woods region, up into Oklahoma."

"I never said anything about Bigfoot, or about any other type of primate."

"I can't imagine what else there could be, unless you're thinking of a werewolf or some other folkloric creature."

"That's what I'm here to find out. However strange it may seem, there has to be some kind of rational explanation. Even if it may seem irrational based on what we know."

"Yes, and that rational or irrational explanation is probably some elaborate prank."

"But why would someone take all the trouble to attack someone, just make it seem like a monster actually exists?"

"That's what we'll find out when we determine the culprit," William replied confidently. "As we both know from our lines of work, people are strange."

"Present music excepted," Kelley added dryly.


	3. Files

**Fredericksburg Police Department  
11:50 A.M.**

After arriving at the police station and stating their business at the main desk, William and Agent Kelley had settled on a bench to wait for Chief Zamora. "Brings back memories of waiting outside the principal's office," William observed wryly. "You ever get called in, Agent Kelley?"

"It's like déjà vu."

"Only now, for me usually, it's meeting with the dean. It's funny, though. I feel like I'm an unruly student again."

"How often did you get in trouble?"

"Never for the stupid stuff. Pranks. Skipping. It was always asking questions that the teachers couldn't answer. They thought I was just trying to show off, and I'd get kicked out."

"You know what I think, Dr. Van de Kamp?"

"What, Agent Kelley?"

"You were too smart for them. If you were asking the questions you _shouldn't_, by which I mean the ones you should, that's bound to cause problems."

"You ever get that?"

Agent Kelley sighed. "I was a good girl. Good Catholic girl. Still am. Catholic, anyway."

William nodded.

"But it didn't start until I met my mentor at the Bureau. He broke a number of rules, made many assumptions that went beyond conventional explanations. I will say, he drove me to the brink of reason. And yet, many times, the simplest and most logical explanation defied conventional logic. In that sense, I guess I ended up breaking the rules."

"In what sense?"

A figure emerged from the back of the station, walking up to William and Agent Kelley. "Hi. Steven Zamora. Chief of Police."

Zamora shook hands with William and Kelley, who formally introduced themselves. "If you'll just walk this way, we can talk about what's been happenin'."

"Walk this way?" William asked and he and Agent Kelley followed Zamora to his office.

"Don't even think about it," Kelley said.

"What's that?" Zamora asked. "You talkin' about Aerosmith or Mel Brooks?"

"That's before his time," Kelley said.

"Before all our times, I'd say," Zamora commented, walking through the doorway of his office before settled behind his desk. "If you can get the door, and have a seat" he added.

After closing the door, William sat next to Agent Kelley. "Oh, and thanks for offering to pick up Agent Kelley for us, Dr. Van de Kamp."

"My pleasure," he replied.

"Saved all of us some trouble. Plus, we can get your expertise on all this as well. Try to come up with a rational explanation for all this."

"So, what's your understanding of what happened?" Agent Kelley asked.

"Well, we've had all these contradictory reports for the past month or so. People claiming to see something."

"What?" William asked.

"It's all over the map." Zamora handed a folder to Agent Kelley. Upon opening it, she inched over towards William so that he could look over the contents. "Bigfoots. Chupacabras. Werewolves. The last one's funny, because that sighting didn't even happen during the full moon."

Rubbing his chin slowly, William took the folder as he looked over the reports. "So, we're talking folkloric creatures. But chupacabra descriptions can vary. I know that the word can signify a creature that looks like a conventional grey alien, or a medium-sized canid. And they have, in fact, usually turned out to be dogs with mange."

"Yes," Zamora said apprehensively.

"And it's interesting, because if you think about the werewolf reports, wolves are canids as well. And they're furry, kind of like Bigfoot."

"That makes some sense, I suppose."

"So there's some kind of continuum that seems to make sense. It may even be mass hysteria, but people are reporting different creatures."

"Like a contagion, maybe," Kelley added.

"That's a good metaphor," William said.

"Not really. I was thinking of something more literal."

"What?" Zamora asked. He pulled out another folder and handed it to Agent Kelley. "How could a contagion make marks like the ones here on a man's body?"

Kelley opened the new folder. At the top, she saw a photograph of marks on a man's torso. "That's unusual," she said. "It looks like oversized insect bites."

"Funny you should say that. The guy claims he was attacked by what he called the Wasp Man."

With a look of surprise, Kelley asked, "What?"

"Wasp Man. Doesn't sound like a furry creature at all. What's stranger is that the guy's a retired cop from L.A. I don't see him making up something like that."

Kelley flipped quickly past the photographs to the report, glancing intently at the first page.

"It makes sense," William suggested. "Someone who'd generally be considered reliable, probably in such a state of shock, that he thought whatever attacked him looked like a wasp."

"It makes as much sense as anything else, though," Kelley said, her voice sounding somewhat flat.

"About what time did it happen?" William asked.

"Around midnight. There's more in the report."

"So, he might not have been able to see what attacked him, too."

"It's possible," Zamora surmised. "But I haven't heard any reports of large animals in the area. No bears or anything."

"Maybe someone's keeping large wild animals illegally, and one of them escaped."

"That's speculation," Agent Kelley mumbled.

"I'm just trying to consider all possibilities," William stated.

"We should investigate before jumping to any conclusions." Kelley sighed. "I guess we'll have to speak with the patient, too."

"He's actually at Hill Country Memorial right now," Zamora said. "Just down the road on route 16. We've already spoken with him, so I guess you and Dr. Van de Kamp can go there."

"Okay," Kelley said. Turning to William, she said, "Dr. Van de Kamp, I can meet you at the car. I'd like to speak about something with Chief Zamora first, however."

After looking blankly at Agent Kelley for a moment, he said, "Okay." Getting up from his chair, he left the office and walked towards his car.

Leaning against the car, William pondered what he had seen and heard in Zamora's office. His mind wandered to other reports of humanoid creatures. The Jersey Devil. Mothman. So many mundane explanations seemed plausible, including the likelihood that some very clever people wanted to create some kind of stir in the area. Mothman seemed a particularly compelling analog, with its near similarity to the so-called "Wasp Man" explanation. After all, both names refer to humanoid creatures with insect-like attributes. In the case of Mothman, however, it was possible that people kept seeing owls, and that misjudgments in depth perception and darkness accounted for those sightings.

As his mind spun, William started to look around. Counting and making a conscious effort to breathe steadily, he thought about past visits to Fredericksburg. William enjoyed many of the activities and events that Austin had to offer, but Fredericksburg provided a more relaxed getaway from the large city. Whether alone, or more recently with Maddie, he enjoyed trying various bed and breakfasts, whether in town or outside. He wasn't sure what he would do that night, but he pondered the possibility of finding a place where he could put up his feet. William also wasn't keen on being peppered with questions by Maddie, especially after likely driving back later in the evening, or possibly at night.

"Dr. Van de Kamp. You up for some lunch?"

William turned around to find Agent Kelley walking towards the car. "Lunch?" he asked. "What about the case?"

"Chief Zamora checked with the hospital. They said that the patient is having lunch and undergoing some tests, but that we could meet with him in a few hours."

As Agent Kelley approached the front passenger side door of the car, William sprinted around. "Let me get that for you."

As William opened the door for her, Kelley said. "Oh. That's not necessary."

"Hey. No problem." William said as Kelley got into the car.

"I appreciate the courtesy," Kelley said.

William shrugged. "You're welcome," he said, closing the door, and thinking of places where they could eat.


End file.
